Tauranga-based utility Trustpower has stated that recent results confirm the merits of its recent strategic review.
Trustpower chair Paul Ridley-Smith said the strong performance of each operation reaffirmed the board’s decision to explore the potential sale of the retail business and establishment of a standalone generation business.
“We firmly believe in the growth potential of both the generation and retail businesses. These results confirm that both generation and retail are sound operations that could thrive independently of each other.”
Recent Trustpower developments include:
- The launch of a voice of customer programme to track, understand and remedy pain points in the customer experience journey, as part of a commitment to customer-centricity.
- Successful execution of asset maintenance and enhancements despite ongoing Covid-19 Alert Level changes throughout the year.
- Enhancements at Waipori, Cobb and Kumara contributing an additional 9.5GWh in annual generation volumes.
Strategic Review
In January 2021 Trustpower announced a strategic review of its retail business. This review is aimed at testing market interest in the sale of its mass market retail business and exploring the business case for a standalone generation business.
In April 2021, Trustpower announced its intention to enter into due diligence with a number of interested parties to further explore the possible sale of the retail business. At the time of this announcement the process remains ongoing.
Dividend
Ridley-Smith announced the Board has approved a fully imputed dividend of 17.0 cents per share, as well as a one-off special dividend of 1.5 cents per share, also fully imputed. He said the special dividend was a ‘catch up’ on the previous year, where Trustpower declared a reduced dividend of 15.5 cents per share amidst the uncertainty surrounding the impacts of Covid-19.
Together with the interim dividend of 17 cents per share paid in December 2020, this provides a total fully imputed dividend of 35.5 cents per share for the 2021 financial year. The dividend will be paid on 18 June 2021.
Trustpower said it would look to provide market guidance once the results of the strategic review were known.
